Car-coupling.



Patented 'Apr. 29,1902.

R. H. RUTHERFORD. GARCOUPLINGQ ('A pp lication filed Feb. '1, 1901.

( No Model.)

II A

FFIQE.

ATENT RICHARD ll. RUTHERFORD, OF MARION, OREGON.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 698,740, dated April29, 1902. Application filed February 7, 1901. Serial No. 46,385. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern/.-

Be it known that I, RICHARD H. RUTHER- FORD, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Marion, in the county of Marion and State of Oregon,have invented a new and useful Oar-Coupler, of which the following is aspecification.

The present invention relates to improvements in car-couplers; and theobject't'hereof is to provide a coupler which is always in properposition to be automatically coupled and may be uncoupled from eitherside or from the top of a car.

More particularly, the invention aims to provide arrow-head jaws, whichare arranged to interlock; and a further important object is to soconstruct them that they will have a limited side movement to permit therounding of curves, and yet will be so interlocked that they mustnecessarily move in unison and cannot become disengaged during saidlateral movement.

To the accomplishment of these objects the construction shown in theaccompanying drawings and described in the followin g specification ispreferred; but it will be understood that this construction is open tochange and modification within the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the endof a car,showing one of the improved coupler-headsapplied thereto. Fig.

2isa longitudinal sectional View of two coup-' ler-heads in coactingrelation. -Fig. 3 is a bottom plan 'view of the same. Fig. 4 is adetailcross-sectional view taken on the line X X of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a detailview illustrating a slightly-modifiedform of hinge connection betweenthe sections of the draw-bar.

Similar numerals ofreference designate corresponding parts in theseveral figures of the drawings.

In carrying out the invention, as shown, the under side of the car.isprovided with a pairof parallel longitudinally-disposed spacedguide-beams-lO. Between these beams is slidably mounted the draw-bar(designated as a whole by the numeral 11) and having at its outer endthe coupler-head 12.

The draw-bar 11 comprises a pair of spaced rods 13, each of which ismade up of jointed sections 13 and 13 The sections 13 are slidablymounted between the guide-beams 10 by being passed through a transversesupportingbeam 14, arranged between said guide-beams and intermediatetheir ends.

Coiled springs 15 are arranged around the inner ends of the sections13*, said springs bearing against the inner face of the supporting-beam14 and a stop-bar 16, which connects the ends of the sections. By thisconstruct-ion it will be seen that the draw-bar is .yieldingly held inits inner position, this inward movement being limited by the joints 17of the rods 13.

The outer sections 13 of the rods 13 project beyond the end of the car,and to the projecting ends of these sections is secured the coupler-head12. A transverse rest-bar 14: is arranged beneath the sections '13:to'limit the downward movement of the same.' This coupler-head is in theform of an arrow-head and has the upper and lowerbarbs 18 and19 formingretaining-shoulders.- The side faces of the head are convexedly rounded,so that its greatest width is at the central portion. The head isarranged between the rod-sections 13, which are secured to the widestportion of said head and are preferably inset in the same.

At the front edge of.one of the coacting heads is preferably arranged aguiding-roller 20, the outer edge of which is disposed in ad- Vance ofthe edge of the head- The preferred manner of mounting the roller 20 isby cutting awaythe outer end ofthe head intermediate its side edges,thus forming the ears 21. The roller '20 is mounted in this cut-awayportion and is secured by suitable journals to the ears. 0

To provide for operating the coupler, ashaft 22 is journaled upon theend of the car and is provided at its opposite ends with dependinghandles 23. Secured to the shaft directly over each draw-rod 13 is alever-arm 24, the outer ends of which carry links 25, that surround saidrods. A suitable operative connection'26 may be made between the shaft22 and the top of the car.

' The coupling operation will be obvious. When the two cars are broughttogether, the two jaws will abut and one will ride over the other anddrop behind it, so that the respective barbs will become interlocked, asclearly shown in Fig. 2. Atthc same time thelower edge of the upper barbwill drop between the draft-rods of the lower draw-bar, and likewise thedraft-rods of the upper bar will embrace the upper edge of the lowerhead. To uncou plc the cars, it is only necessary to grasp one of theoperating-handles 23 or draw up-' wardly on the connection 26, whereuponthe shaft will be rotated, the lower arms 24 raised, and consequentlythe upper head disengaged from the lower. It will of course beunderstood that any suitable form of buffer may be used to prevent thecars coming together.

There are certain important ad vantages for the above-describedconstruction. In the first place by having the roller at the edge of thehead the opposite head will be thrown either above or beneath the samebythe rotation of said roller. There is small liability, therefore, ofthe two heads striking on a dead center; secondly, by having thedraft-rodsv of one draw-bar engaging the sides of the opposite head thetwo heads are held against relative lateral movement and cannot,therefore, become disengaged through such move ment. At the same timesufficient lateral movement is permitted by the hinged sec tions and bythe provision of the independem; sections 13", each of which has its ownspring. For instance, in rounding a curve the greater strain will bebrought upon the outer draft-rod. The joint in the other will thereforeact as a pivot between its two secform ;of hinge connection between thesec-.

tions of the draw-bar. In this construction the rod-sections 13" areprovided with open hooks l7, and the rod-sections 13 are connected attheir inner ends by a cross-rod 17 which engages said hooks.

This provides a construction which permits the ready disassociation ofthe sections for the purpose of. repair.

From the foregoing it is thought, that the constructiomoperation,andmany advantages of the herein-described invention will be apparent tothose skilled in the art without fur-- ther description, and it will beunderstood that various changes in the size, shape, proportion, andminor details of construction i may be resorted to without departingfrom" the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

Having thus described myinvention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a car-coupler, the combination with a draw-bar com prising aplurality of d raft-rods, each of said rods consisting ofjointedsections, one section of each rod being slidably and yieldinglyconnected to the car, of a couplerhead secured to the other sections, arockshaft' mounted upon the car and provided with a pluralityof'oifstanding arms, and sliding connections between the arms and theouter sections of the draw-bar.

2. In a car-coupler, the combination with longitudinally-disposed spacedguide-beams rigidly secured to the under side of the car, of astationary transverse supporting-beam located between the guide-beams, aplurality of draft-rods passing through said transverse beams, said rodseach comprising sections connected by a universal joint-,a-stop-barconnecting the inner ends of the draft-rodsand: freely slidable betweenthe guidebeams, springs interposed between and bearing against thestop-bar and the supporting-beam a con pler-head connected to the outersections of said draftrods outside the supportingbeam, and means forsupporting said outer sections.

3. In a car-coupler, the combination with a V draw-bar comprising apluralityot draft-rods,

each of said rods consistingof'jointed sec tions, one section of eachrod being slid'ably and yieldingly connected" to thexcar, of acoupler-head secured to the'other section's, a rock-shaft mou nted u ponthe car and provided with a plurality ofoifstanding arms,and ringssurrounding the outer sections of the drawbar and having pivotalconnectionswi-th .thearms.

4C. In a car-coupler, the combination with a I draw-bar comprising aplurality of draft-rods, each of said rods consisting of jointedsections, one section of each rod being slidingly and-yieldinglyconnected to the car, the other section being capable of a side andvertical movement, of a coupler-head.seeuredintermediate its upper andlower faces to the outer ends of said rods, said upper and lower facesbeingnarrower in width than the distance between the rods, and adaptedto be seated between the corresponding rods of asimilar coactingcoupler, whereby the head can be moved to one side or the other, but isheld against accidental displacement with relation to the coacting head.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto aiiixedmy signature in. the presence of two witnesses.

RICHARD H. RUTHERFORD.

\Vitnesses:

T. M. ,WITTEN, F. G. CURL.

